Fireflies
by seasidehearts
Summary: "It's not just about summer, it's looking forward to the rest of the year; wishing for what you want to happen." Every year, Destiny Islands celebrates a festival celebrating the beginning of summer, ushered in by the first sighting of fireflies. Sokai, post-KH2, semi-AU


**Disclaimer: I don't own the KH series, characters, etc**

oXo Fireflies oXo

"I heard that someone finally saw fireflies last night, so looks like the festival's on for this Saturday." Kairi tried to distract herself and her friends while they dragged all of their belongings behind them. After a long day on the beach, they were all exhausted and losing more and more energy by the minute as they trekked their way home.

Sora gave a small smile, "It's about time. I thought summer was never gonna come."

"I wouldn't have minded more cool weather. Besides, I never really understood why we rely on bugs to tell us that the season changed." Riku rolled his eyes and wiped his hand across his forehead.

The younger boy shrugged while Kairi put on a frown, "I like it! It's not just about summer, it's looking forward to the rest of the year; wishing for what you want to happen. I think it's sweet. We all know new year's resolutions and stuff like that are more realistic and can be done with hard work, but everybody wishes for something. Even if it's something that seems completely impossible."

Sora quickly chimed in, "I think we all know the word impossible doesn't mean much these days."

"Exactly." She nodded, smiling and adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"Plus the festival means free food, so obviously I can't complain." Sora grinned while his friends scoffed and rolled their eyes.

"Surprise, surprise." Riku shook his head and let out a light laugh, "Leave it to Sora to change the subject to food."

"Tell me about it." The redhead replied, amused, "Well, you two, here's my stop. What time do you want to meet up on Saturday?" She asked as she spun around to face them.

Riku put down the things he was carrying and shrugged, "You're the one who's most excited about it, so you pick."

Her eyes moved to Sora who quickly became flustered, "Uh, I dunno. Seventy thirty I guess cuz the dinner and fireworks don't start until it gets dark."

Kairi nodded in approval, responding, "That sounds good. We'll meet at your place since it's closest to where they set up everything."

"S-sure." He replied, even though the matter was pretty much already settled without his consent.

"See you guys then! Goodnight!" She gave a small wave before heading down her driveway.

Riku echoed, "Goodnight." while Sora muttered a short, "Night."

The older boy picked his things back off the ground, "Let's get going."

"Okay." The brunette shifted back towards the road and followed after his friend.

XoX

Sora, as always, was running late. Riku was already downstairs and he thought maybe Kairi was as well, but he wasn't sure. His mom was helping run one of the booths at the festival and had left hours ago, leaving him alone with the task of trying to find somewhat nice clothes. The khaki shorts were easy enough, but the shirt was another story.

After leaving his room looking like a bomb had gone off, he eventually managed to find a black shirt with a V-neck in the depths of his closet that wasn't _too _wrinkly and thought '_Good enough'_.

He thought about trying to fix his room up slightly but figured he had probably left Riku (and maybe Kairi) waiting long enough already so decided to leave it as it was, even if that meant he was going to come home to a very displeased mother and a possible grounding. Making his way for the stairs, he heard Kairi's unmistakable giggle. "So she is here already." The brunette mumbled to himself before announcing loudly, "Sorry I'm late, guys!"

"Nothing new." Riku commented automatically as he stood up, Kairi getting up after him.

"Thanks, Riku." Sora replied back in a sarcastic tone as he entered the living room. His older friend was wearing a white polo and black basketball shorts, just like the past couple of years. It was his way of showing that he didn't care about the festival while still not being completely disrespectful. "Taking semi-casual way too literally as always, I see." The brunette smirked.

Riku laughed, "Gotta keep tradition, you know."

"And Kairi," Sora averted his gaze to the red headed girl, but the rest of his sentence caught in his throat as his eyes washed over her. Kairi was wearing a light pink dress that was skin tight at the top but flowed outwards after hitting her waist, flattering her chest with a sweetheart neckline but also shielding her cleavage with a black mesh top. "You look…great." He finished with difficulty, much to the amusement of Riku.

Kairi, however, didn't seem to notice. "Thank you." She smiled sweetly, "Are you guys ready to go?"

"I'm ready, but I think Sora needs a moment to remember how to breathe." The older boy snickered, earning a glare from his friend.

Kairi crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Okay… well, let's go."

Without a word, Sora rushed forward to his front door, opening it and holding it open for his friends; though he was tempted to slam it in Riku's face. After making sure he left the porch light on for his mom and locking the door securely, he turned around to find that Kairi's dress only got better. The straps made an X shape over her back with a bow where they met in the middle, showing much more of her skin then he was used to seeing. It wasn't overly revealing by any means but it was just enough to tease him and make him wonder who she was wearing it for. Was she wearing it for herself or to impress someone? Maybe him?

Sora rolled his eyes at himself, '_Nah_.'

"So should we get the games over with first so we can go ahead and blow all the money we brought?" Riku suggested in an unamused tone, already dragging his feet.

"Riku," Kairi whined, "Don't be like that. The games are fun." She looked back at the younger boy, "Besides, I know you and Sora jump at any chance to compete with each other."

"Yeah, but there's plenty of ways to do that for free. Sora, how about a swordfight? Right now." The older boy stopped and turned around.

Thinking back to Riku's comment about remembering how to breathe, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get back at him. Sora opened his mouth, ready to agree, before he caught sight of Kairi's disapproving stare. The brunette shook his head and kept walking, "C'mon, let's keep going." Riku groaned but turned around, continuing to follow after his friends.

Kairi let out a quiet sigh, "You know, you can go home if you really don't want to come."

Riku frowned, scratching the back of his neck as he admitted, "I'm just giving you a hard time. I don't really mind going… it's just not exactly my cup of tea."

"I might forgive you if you win me something." She smiled mischievously.

The older boy hung his head in defeat but gave a small smile back, "Fine."

'_Maybe she dressed up for _him.'Sora pondered as he watched the two interact before his silence was noticed.

"Is something wrong? You're being pretty quiet, Sora." Kairi waved a hand in his face as she spoke.

He quickly shook his head, "No, no. I'm just trying to think of what we should try first." He lied.

Her lips turned upward into a smile, "So what were you thinking?"

'_Crap_.' Sora scratched his neck sheepishly, "Uhhh… I mean you seem to always get lucky with the duck pond thing so maybe there?"

"That sounds good to me." Kairi swung her hands behind her back as she spoke, loosely grasping her left wrist with her right hand, "What do you think, Riku?"

The silver haired boy shrugged, "Sure."

"It's settled, then." She announced with a small laugh. As they came up over the hill, they could finally see the booths and the lights strung across multiple trees. Since it was still daylight, none of them were on yet but once the sun set the lights would emit a soft green light, imitating the fireflies that they were celebrating.

"There it is." Sora faked enthusiasm, still more intrigued by Kairi's outfit choice than anything else. Finishing his sentence, his stomach let out a low grumble.

Riku rolled his eyes, "Hungry already?"

"Hey, we don't eat dinner before the festival. It saves money plus you know my mom always leaves super early to help put all this together." Sora clutched his stomach, "It just sucks that they don't serve any of the food until after it gets dark."

"There's stands for snacks, though. Why don't we go get something for you first?" Kairi asked in a concerned tone, starting to walk forward faster.

The brunette shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. The wait makes it taste even more delicious when I finally get to it."

Kairi sighed to herself before looking at him sternly, "Just make sure you get something if you start getting a headache, okay? I don't want you to make yourself sick."

"Will do." Sora promised.

"By the way, what booth is your mom running anyway, Sora?" Riku asked curiously.

The younger boy laughed, "That impossible game where you have a bunch of little glasses and you have to get a ping pong ball into one. She's going to ruin so many people's lives tonight." As they approached the festival, Sora noticed the ticket booth, "Guess we should go buy the tickets. I've got $10 but that's it."

Kairi shrugged, "$10 sounds like a good limit."

"I _guess_ I can afford that." Riku commented as he scratched the back of his head.

"Great." Sora nodded, heading over to the booth and exchanging his $10 bill for a sheet of tickets with Kairi and Riku right behind him.

Once they got everything situated, Kairi excitedly hurried over to the duck pond stand as they had talked about previously. Sora and Riku looked at each other and laughed, both admiring how Kairi was so easily amused. Noticing their absence, she whirled around and called out, "Hurry up you two!"

"How do you win this again?" The older boy asked as they approached her.

"Well, you always win. But getting a one gets you a little prize, a two is slightly bigger and then three is the grand prize." She explained as she reached into the kiddie pool and grabbed a duck. Flipping it over, she showed them the '1' marked on the bottom, "See?"

"Got it." Riku gave the woman running the game his 2 tickets, Sora following after.

Sora flipped his duck to find a '1' marked on the bottom, just as Kairi had. Walking over to the small prizes, he picked up a packet of hard candy knowing that anything else would just create more of a mess in his room. "What did you get?" He asked Kairi as he stood back up.

"Just one of these bracelets." She stuck out her wrist to show him a white bracelet that looked like it was made out of a small piece of rope.

"Hey Kairi, didn't you say I owed you a prize?" They both turned around to see that Riku was wearing a proud smirk as he held up a duck with a '3' on it.

Kairi clapped her hands together, "Good job, Riku! I mean, I was just kidding earlier but if you really don't want it…"

"What am I gonna do with a stuffed animal?" He asked with a laugh, "You take it."

"Thank you!" She gave a wide smile before turning to the woman running the booth and telling her that she wanted the sea turtle. She held it out and admired it for a moment before placing it into a black tote bag that Sora hadn't noticed she had until that moment.

'_And that's because you've only paid attention to her dress_.' He rolled his eyes at himself.

"So what should we do next?" Kairi questioned, snapping him back into reality.

Sora looked around, suggesting, "We can try the other impossible game that my mom's not running… trying to get the ball inside of a plastic tub by bouncing it off a board. I mean, there's not a lot of game options so we're probably gonna end up playing all of them anyway so might as well get it over with."

"Okay." Kairi agreed, automatically moving towards the booth.

"Jeez, Kairi. Slow down." He commented jokingly.

She gave an embarrassed smile, "Sorry."

"I'm just kidding." Sora smiled back before heading over after her. This time, he went first.

"You've got three tries." The booth attendant handed him three wiffle balls.

He nodded as he took them into his hands, "Okay." '_I'll try doing it underhanded first…_' He thought to himself before lightly throwing it towards the board, but it was too much; it bounced off into some corner of the booth. '_Alright, overhanded then.'_ He tried again, this one bouncing much harder off the board and bouncing out of the booth. Riku caught it and handed it back to the attendant. "Sorry." Sora quickly apologized before lightly throwing it underhanded again as a last ditch effort to no avail.

He retreated from the booth with a shrug, "Riku, you going next?"

"Sure, why not…" The older boy replied as he stepped forward. Three balls later, he did no better or worse than Sora, "Oh well." Kairi fared no better. Due to her gentle throws, she was seemingly close every time but still never quite made it.

"Does playing darts next sound good to you guys? And then after that it'll probably be time for the dinner to start setting up, it's kinda getting dark already." Riku suggested, knowing it was his turn to pick something.

His stomach giving a low grumble at the mention of the food that was so close and yet still so far away, Sora agreed, "Sounds like a plan."

"Alright, on to the next one." Kairi announced in a sing-song voice, always the first to move forward. As it turned out, none of them were really good at darts either. Riku got enough to win a medium prize, a while Kairi picked out some stick on earrings and Sora just got more candy.

Just as Riku was about to pick something out, the trio heard a girls voice call out his name, "Riku!"

He gave a look of confusion before he turned his head, then smiled as he greeted her, "Hey, Lenne."

"Who's that?" Sora mumbled to Kairi. Since she was the mayor's daughter, she had met everyone on the island at least once.

"A girl in his class." She whispered back.

Hearing Sora and Kairi behind him, Riku turned and introduced them, "This is Sora and that's Kairi."

"Nice to meet you." Lenne smiled politely.

"Nice to meet you too." Kairi repeated with a smile back.

Sora gave a small wave and replied, "Same."

To which Riku rolled his eyes, "Excuse his rudeness. "

She giggled, "It's okay."

"Anyway, uh," Riku suddenly seemed short on words which was very much entertaining to Sora, "I just won a medium prize if you want to pick something for yourself. I already gave Kairi one prize before because I don't really have any need for them."

"Wow, really? You're just going to give it to me?" Lenne's eyes widened in surprise.

Riku shrugged, "Why not."

She blinked and stood silent for a moment before letting out, "Thank you!" After picking out a teddy bear with a ribbon around its neck, she shyly asked, "Um, I came with a couple other people who are saving me a seat for the dinner. If you want, you can come sit with us so we can catch up. I hardly ever see you around when school's out."

Riku glanced at Sora and Kairi, Kairi motioning for him forward while Sora just mouthed the word 'go'. Turning back to the brunette girl, he smiled nervously, "Sure."

"Great. It's this way." She pointed before turning back towards the other two, "It was nice seeing you two as well!"

"You too!" Kairi and Sora replied.

Once Riku and Lenne were out of earshot, Kairi grinned mischievously, "Looks like Riku likes her."

"Yeah, I've never really seen him nervous…" Sora trailed off in thought, "I thought he was good with girls."

"He's good with girls he doesn't like, otherwise he becomes completely hopeless." She laughed, "Anyway, think we should head towards where they're serving dinner too?"

Sora smiled sheepishly, "Well, my stomach definitely says yes."

Kairi laughed again, "Alright, c'mon."

Once they came upon the tables covered in food, Sora was practically drooling all over himself. He filled his plate to the point where things were constantly falling off with every step he took while Kairi gave herself a much smaller portion. Just as they were at the dessert portion of the tables, they heard their younger friend, Selphie, "Sora! Kairi! Come sit with us!" She ushered them over. Kairi patiently waited for Sora to finish making his plate before heading towards Selphie who immediately asked, "Where's Riku?"

"He got asked to go sit with a girl for dinner." Sora replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Selphie smirked, "Really now? Who was it?"

"Lenne, from his class." Kairi answered before taking a sip of her water.

"Interesting." The younger girl rubbed her hands together.

Looking around and noticing empty seats, Kairi questioned back, "Where are Tidus and Wakka?"

Selphie put a hand to her forehead and frowned, "Off practicing somewhere… as always. It'd be a miracle if I could ever get them to go a whole day without it."

Sora laughed, "Gotta admit, they're super dedicated."

"A little too much." She gave a small smile before the dim green lights around them flickered off, "Oh, guess it's time for the fireworks."

"You know, I still haven't actually seen any fireflies tonight." Sora commented, earning a 'shhh' from Kairi. "What? It's just kinda weird since you know this festival is based around them." He continued.

Kairi didn't look at him and kept staring up at the fireworks, now erupting in the sky, and replied confidently, "We will."

Sora admired the fireworks for a moment before continuing to dig into his food, not wanting it to get cold. As he looked back down towards his food, he replied, "If you say so."

"Party pooper." Kairi looked over at him as she commented jokingly, he and Selphie both laughing. She smiled at her own joke before alternating between watching the fireworks and slowly taking bites out of her meal.

All too soon the fireworks were over and Selphie excused herself to go find their missing friends. "I dunno about you, but I'm stuffed." Sora pushed his empty plate away from him.

"That's because you ate like at least one of everything." She giggled, "But I know you were really hungry."

"Definitely. But now I'm full enough to last a whole week without food." He joked, standing up from the table and asking, "So… should we go home now?"

"You wanted to see fireflies, didn't you?" She questioned back curiously.

Sora blinked in confusion, dragging out his statement into a question, "I guess…?" She smiled and started walking away, leaving him standing in place for a moment before he finally started following after her. "Where are we going exactly?" He called out to her, trying to catch up.

"The play island." She kept walking forward.

"Why there?" Sora tilted his head, slowing his pace as he approached her.

She turned to look at him, still smiling, "Because there's no lights."

He opened his mouth in surprise before shaking his head, sheepishly admitting, "Wow, I should have known that."

"Don't worry about it." She waved him off as they approached the rowboats, "Should we take two boats?"

Sora quickly volunteered, "No, just use mine; I'll row." He waded out into the water, now a little cold, and held the boat steady so Kairi could get in easily, "Ladies first."

"Thanks." She smiled as she stuck one of her legs over the dock and into the boat. Expecting to accidentally catch a glimpse of her underwear due to her short dress, Sora turned away as a blush spread across his face. "Relax, I'm wearing shorts underneath." She laughed.

"Oh." He mumbled, embarrassed, "Well, never know." Kairi watched him in amusement as he got into the boat, still not locking eyes with her as he began to row. However, it was Sora that broke the silence, "How do you know there's definitely fireflies out here, anyway?"

Kairi twiddled her fingers together before admitting, "It was me who saw them the other day."

Sora finally looked up at her, confused yet again, "Why didn't you say it was you?"

She shrugged, "I dunno…"

"Wait. So have you been going out to the island by yourself at night, then?" He questioned, obviously very concerned.

"…Yeah." Kairi admitted nervously.

Sora frowned at her, "You know that's really dangerous… The ocean's unpredictable, you know that. What did you tell your dad when you said when you saw fireflies?"

She sighed, "That I saw them when I was leaving the island after sunset with you." She looked off into the water, "I just haven't been sleeping well for some reason and being at the island just helps me relax."

"Well… from now on, could you wake me up to go with you so you're not out here alone? Being here with no one knowing where you are is definitely not good." Sora asked quietly, quickly adding, "Or ask Riku. Or whoever, just someone."

She gave a small smile, "I will. I'm sorry."

He let out a small laugh in response, "Nothing to be sorry for. I mean, it's already said and done; I just want you to be safer next time." The redhead nodded quietly in response. The two stayed silent for the rest of the trip until they reached the dock, Sora announcing, "Guess we're here." He got out into the water and held the boat for her again.

"Thank you." Kairi smiled softly as she climbed up onto the dock and waited for Sora to finish tying up the boat.

"So where are we going?" Sora asked as he pulled himself up onto the dock, his shoes missing from his feet. Kairi glanced down and saw that his were in the boat and decided that was a good idea.

Taking her shoes off and tossing them into the boat, she replied, "They're everywhere. Look."

Sora looked around the island, catching glimpses of flashing green lights in numerous places. "You're right." He kept staring at them.

She admired them too for a few minutes before breaking the silence, asking, "Do you wanna take a walk around the island?"

"Sure." He looked at her as she passed him, moving down the stairs and onto the beach. As they were walking past the small island with the paopu tree, Sora asked gently, "Is there any reason why you aren't sleeping well?"

Kairi closed her eyes and smiled sheepishly, pushing some of her hair behind her ear as she admitted, "It's just a little hard to believe that everything is somewhat normal for right now. I feel like I always have to be on my toes, ready for something to change. Ready to leave at a moment's notice or at least ready to say goodbye again."

Sora felt a pang of guilt in his chest and looked down at his feet, "You won't have to say goodbye. I—I don't think I can do that again." He paused for a moment, "I know it was hard for you, but it was really hard for me too." She looked over at him, a little bit of relief washing over her. "Anyway, I know how you feel. I feel that way too and I'm sure Riku does as well. But you just kinda have to let it go… you have to enjoy what's happening now instead of focusing on what's coming."

"I know." Kairi nodded, looking straight ahead, "It's just hard sometimes. Doing things like the festival and this; that definitely helps me focus on the present. Being with Riku helps too, but most of all it's you. Even with everything we've been through, you haven't really changed. Just the fact that you're still the same Sora I've always known just always makes me feel okay because I know no matter what happens, you'll always still be there." She locked eyes with him as she finished.

Sora stared in awe before grinning widely, unsure of how to respond. "I'm glad you feel that way, Kairi. I dunno what to say… I mean, I guess you've changed a little but you just got better so it's not a bad thing."

She laughed at his forced compliment, "Thanks, I guess."

"Going back to leaving again… there is one thing we can do to make sure we're never really separated again." Sora spoke quietly.

Kairi's heart skipped a beat inside of her chest, "What's that?"

The brunette shyly pointed towards the island with the paopu tree, "Share a paopu fruit." Kairi's lips parted but no words came out, causing Sora to go off on a rant, "It's just—I saw that you drew the same thing I did in the secret place so I thought... But if you don't want—"

"I want to." She interrupted him, putting a finger on his lips and smiling brightly, "It just took a minute to sink in that you were really asking me."

He exhaled deeply, "Phew. Sorry." After calming himself down, he asked, "So… should we do it now?"

"No time's better than the present." Kairi joked, referencing their previous conversation.

"Ha ha." Sora replied sarcastically, still very nervous. The chilled ocean water seemed all too tempting as they made their way to the shack, up the stairs and over the bridge. Once at the tree, he quietly gulped to himself as he plucked a fruit from the tree before taking a seat on it and inviting Kairi to sit in her usual spot as well. He locked eyes with her before saying, "Here it goes." He bit into the paopu fruit. It was surprisingly sweet, so much different than anything he'd ever had before.

He stared at what was left of it for a moment before Kairi asked, "Is it bad?"

"No, not at all." He held it out to her, "Taste for yourself."

She took it in her hands and stared it too, nervously letting out a breath before taking a bite into it as well. "It's really good." She commented after she had swallowed her piece. "So is that all we have to do?" She asked as she stared at the rest of the fruit held in her hands. Hearing no answer, she looked up, "Sora?"

His lips caught hers, the sweet taste of the paopu fruit still lingering. She closed her eyes, letting the rest of the world melt away and focusing on nothing but the sensation of their lips gliding against each other and the warmth of his hand against her cheek. He tried to pull away first, but Kairi wasn't having it. This felt too amazing to give up. When she finally did let herself and him come up for air, she noticed the paopu fruit had been knocked over onto the ground but she didn't really care. Whether it worked or not, she knew Sora wasn't leaving her anytime soon.

"Look at the fireflies." His voice pulled her back into reality, "They kinda almost look like the same lights that we saw when the world was restoring itself."

"Yeah, but this time they're here to make you stay. At least for a little while." She laid her head on his shoulder.


End file.
